Olympic Games: Policeman commits suicide in Athens ... and some news in brief
aar | 27.07.2004 11:52 | Anti-militarism
Thanasis Moshidisl, a 42-year-old policeman, shot himself when he was on duty in the security force of the Olympic Games
Thanasis Moshidis, one of the 80000 strong police and army security force for the Olympic Games in Athens, commited suicide when he was on active duty on the streets of Athens by shooting himself.
The policeman was on of the thousands of police personal drafted from all over Greece and ordered to join the Olympic Security Force. According to some of his colleagues he didn't want to join the Olympic Security Force and go to Athens, and he was suffering from psychological problems. he had said to his superiors that and asked not to be transfered in Greece this summer.
This year there are two confirmed incidents of policeguns killing someone... The first one was in Crete when 22-year-old Iraklis Maragkakis was killed in Iraklion of Crete last November by burst fire, when he didn't stop on a police sign. After his death the Greek civil police confiscated the vehicle and shot it on the tires in order to try and prove that the three police man who directly shot the 22-year-old driver were trying to shot the tires of the vehicle. The civil police was rediculated when the co-driver said that he drived from the place of the incident to the nearest hospital after the shooting... and this would have been impossible with shot tires. The three police officers were arrested and moved in local civil police station, which the next night was attacked by relatives of Maragkakis and local anarchists.. the result was a few police cars destroyed, a couple civil poiceman injured and 6 people arrested (during the last six years the people shot by greek police are generally arround 200 -the approximate number of killed ones is around 100- and as not a single police officer was ever send in prison or lost his job the people in Greece react this way). Now the 3 policemen are walking free and are part of the Olympic Security Force... but the 6 people arrested then are still facing the probability of being inprisoned!
In Crete as well an immigrant was beaten to death this year inside a police station.
As it is made clear the Greek Police under enormous pressure from agencies all over the world had launched the biggest security campaign in its history, the biggest security campaign in the history of Olympic Games (the budget is 5 times more than the Sydney Games) and the biggest security campaign probably ever in Europe...
Furthermore, various NGOs including the Greek section of the Amnesty International spoke yesterday to the Greek Press and made a clear statement that human and constitional rights are in grave danger because of the unbelievable security paranoia!
The policeman was on of the thousands of police personal drafted from all over Greece and ordered to join the Olympic Security Force. According to some of his colleagues he didn't want to join the Olympic Security Force and go to Athens, and he was suffering from psychological problems. he had said to his superiors that and asked not to be transfered in Greece this summer.
This year there are two confirmed incidents of policeguns killing someone... The first one was in Crete when 22-year-old Iraklis Maragkakis was killed in Iraklion of Crete last November by burst fire, when he didn't stop on a police sign. After his death the Greek civil police confiscated the vehicle and shot it on the tires in order to try and prove that the three police man who directly shot the 22-year-old driver were trying to shot the tires of the vehicle. The civil police was rediculated when the co-driver said that he drived from the place of the incident to the nearest hospital after the shooting... and this would have been impossible with shot tires. The three police officers were arrested and moved in local civil police station, which the next night was attacked by relatives of Maragkakis and local anarchists.. the result was a few police cars destroyed, a couple civil poiceman injured and 6 people arrested (during the last six years the people shot by greek police are generally arround 200 -the approximate number of killed ones is around 100- and as not a single police officer was ever send in prison or lost his job the people in Greece react this way). Now the 3 policemen are walking free and are part of the Olympic Security Force... but the 6 people arrested then are still facing the probability of being inprisoned!
In Crete as well an immigrant was beaten to death this year inside a police station.
As it is made clear the Greek Police under enormous pressure from agencies all over the world had launched the biggest security campaign in its history, the biggest security campaign in the history of Olympic Games (the budget is 5 times more than the Sydney Games) and the biggest security campaign probably ever in Europe...
Furthermore, various NGOs including the Greek section of the Amnesty International spoke yesterday to the Greek Press and made a clear statement that human and constitional rights are in grave danger because of the unbelievable security paranoia!
aar